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BackgroundEvidence‐based practice (EBP) competencies are essential for all practicing healthcare professionals to provide evidence‐based, quality care, and improved patient outcomes. The multistep EBP implementation process requires multifaceted competencies to successfully integrate best evidence into daily healthcare delivery.AimsTo summarize and synthesize the current research literature on practicing health professionals’ EBP competencies (i.e., their knowledge, skills, attitudes, beliefs, and implementation) related to employing EBP in clinical decision‐making.DesignAn overview of systematic reviews.MethodsPubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched on practicing healthcare professionals’ EBP competencies published in January 2012–July 2017. A total of 3,947 publications were retrieved, of which 11 systematic reviews were eligible for a critical appraisal of methodological quality. Three independent reviewers conducted the critical appraisal using the Rapid Critical Appraisal tools developed by the Helene Fuld National Institute for Evidence‐Based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare.ResultsPracticing healthcare professionals’ self‐reported EBP knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs were at a moderate to high level, but they did not translate into EBP implementation. Considerable overlap existed in the source studies across the included reviews. Few reviews reported any impact of EBP competencies on changes in care processes or patient outcomes. Most reviews were methodologically of moderate quality. Significant variation in study designs, settings, interventions, and outcome measures in the source studies precluded any comparisons of EBP competencies across healthcare disciplines.Linking Evidence to ActionAs EBP is a shared competency, the development, adoption, and use of an EBP competency set for all healthcare professionals are a priority along with using actual (i.e., performance‐based), validated outcome measures. The widespread misconceptions and misunderstandings that still exist among large proportions of practicing healthcare professionals about the basic concepts of EBP should urgently be addressed to increase engagement in EBP implementation and attain improved care quality and patient outcomes.

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Background: Although systematic implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) is essential to effectively improve patient outcomes, quality, and value of care, nurses do not consistently use evidence in practice. Uptake is hampered by lack of nurses' readiness for EBP, including nurses' EBP beliefs and lack of EBP mentors. Favorable EBP beliefs are foundational to Registered Nurses' (RNs) use and integration of best evidence into clinical decision making, whereas EBP mentors are in a key role for strengthening RNs' beliefs in the value of EBP and confidence in their ability to implement EBP. Although nurses' EBP beliefs and role of BP mentors have been widely studied in countries leading the EBP movement, less is known about them in the non-English-speaking world.

Finnish nurses at university hospitals are not ready for evidence-based practice. Although nurses are familiar with the concept of evidence-based practice, they lack the evidence-based practice knowledge and self-efficacy in employing evidence-based practice required for integrating best evidence into clinical care delivery.

Instead of measuring actual EBP competencies, the majority of competency evaluations in nursing are still being conducted via self-assessments, despite growing evidence of their poor accuracy in evaluating directly measurable constructs such as evidence-based practice knowledge and skills. Accurate measurement of nurses' EBP competencies is essential to increasing systematic implementation of EBP in healthcare organizations, thus promoting the attainment of improved care quality and patient outcomes in healthcare delivery.

A pragmatic approach to translating a nursing guideline into a pain management care bundle to incorporate best evidence into daily practice may help achieve more consistent and equitable integration of guidelines into care delivery, and better quality of pain management and patient outcomes.

Objectives: To explore nurses' views and establish consensus on the key content of the essential evidence-based practice (EBP) competencies developed by Melnyk et al. (2014, Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 11, 5) for practicing registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice nurses (APNs) among Finnish nurse panelists.Background: Broad-based integration of best evidence into daily practice is central to effectively improving care quality and patient outcomes. EBP competencies allow healthcare professionals and organizations to clarify performance expectations regarding EBP and succinctly outline the expected competencies for successful application of best evidence to daily care.Design: A modified Policy Delphi study design.Methods: The Delphi panel was conducted in late 2017 among 14 Finnish nurse clinicians, educators, and leaders with a special interest in EBP. The data were collected using an eDelphi Internet application and the Argument Delphi method, highlighting the panelists' different perspectives. Standardized guidelines and descriptive statistics were used to translate the essential EBP competencies into Finnish and analyze the data.Results: The Finnish Delphi panel endorsed and validated the essential EBP competencies for practicing RNs and APNs with a few minor modifications. Of the 13 essential EBP competencies for practicing RNs, consensus was established among the Delphi panelists over two rounds on all but one of the EBP competencies. Of the 11 additional essential EBP competencies for practicing APNs, consensus was established over two Delphi rounds on all the EBP competencies for APNs.Linking Evidence to Action: As EBP is a shared competency and the key principles and steps of EBP implementation are universal, the international endorsement and validation of national consensus-based, clinical practice-oriented EBP competency sets establish an international quality standard for nurses to aspire to and attain on EBP and provide guidance for nurses in integrating best evidence into their daily practice, facilitating broad-based, consistent implementation of EBP worldwide.